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11.06.2007

News of the day, 11/6

Hey everyone. I have a lot to share and discuss throughout the afternoon. So if it's before 6 p.m., keep checking back. Once 6 o'clock rolls around, you get what you see.

We here at HABOTN headquarters appluad you for choosing to spend part of your day reading the HOTTEST uburn blog on the 'net.

Tommy Tuberville again offered cloudy comments when asked about the situation at Texas A&M. It's obvious that he's planning to at least assess the Aggies' interest. The purposes of assessing that interest could be toward considering a move ... or toward creating leverage for contract talks with Auburn. I've been covering him for nine years, talked with him privately for hours, and I still can't get a read on the guy.

I know this: He loves being a wanted man. This is a good time for him to be a wanted man. Don't expect this Texas A&M stuff to go away soon. If Tuberville is interested in staying at Auburn, though, I would expect an announcement within a few days of the Iron Bowl. If the uncertainty lasts longer than that, the Tigers' recruiting opponents will begin loading their proverbial weapons with this material.

Something else is clear: He's not living and breathing to coach at Auburn. If that was the case, as some fans believe, Tuberville would take a page out of Frank Beamer's book. Tuberville would make some rock-solid affirmation, insist that he'll be the coach at Auburn next year and say that he's not interested in Texas A&M ... after Dennis Franchione gets fired.

That's not how Tuberville rolls. It's just not.

Tuberville said today that TB Tristan Davis will not play against Georgia. That represents a reversal from earlier comments. The coach revealed today that Davis, out with a broken bone in his right foot, still isn't able to sprint. That sounds like a problem, yes.

Here are your top defensive producers from the Tennessee Tech game. Players are given points for doing significant things correctly. They are docked points for missing assignments, missing tackles, penalties or loafing.

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...

come on, Tuberville isn't going anywhere.

he wants a raise, he wants raises for his assistants, and he wants more facilities. Just like every coach in America.

If he was 45 years old I think he might consider it. But he's not going to leave a program he's built, with more young talent than its ever had in the pipeline - for a rebuilding job that might not come to fruition until he's 60.

He doesn't seem to me like a guy who is going to coach into his late 60's. With his terrible neck problems and his kids getting near the age of high school sports, he coaches 4-5 more years at AU, retires as the winningest coach in school history and gets his name on the stadium...hopefully Muschamp is still around to take the reins at that point.

At first, I didn't think Tuberville would leave for A&M, but now I think there is a good chance. Coaches have big egos, and they want to leave a legacy. The best way to do that is win a NC. Tubs might realize that his window of opportunity to win one at AU has passed and the best chance he would have would be to go to A&M. They have more money, more talent to draw from, and less competition.

He would really have only 2 schools that are currently in the NC race every year, TX and OU. In the SEC, he has to deal with LSU, AL, FL, UT, UGA that have the potential any given year to win the NC.

If you look at recent history, 6 of the last 7 coaches to win a NC were in the first 4 years at their school. The only exception was Mack Brown who was at UT for 8 years when he won the NC. The last coach with more than 8 years at school to win the NC was Bobby Bowden in '99. Tubs has been at AU for 9 years. He might realize that if he hasn't won it all yet, its not going to happen at AU. Why not try somewhere that has the resources, the talent pool, and has an easier road to win the NC. (Kansas is undefeated and No. 4 if that tells you how bad the Big 12 is)

I'm not sure if you have watched much Texas A&M football this year, but I wouldn't put them in a category with Texas, UF, or USC from a standpoint of "the talent is there, they just need the right staff".

They are at least three top 10 recruiting classes away from being a national contender, and don't forget, its not the LSU's and Florida's that have stopped Tubs from being a national title contender most years - its been the let down games against Arkansas and Mississipi State.

His best team on paper may be the 2009 team, especially on defense, and they won't have to play UF in regular season. If they develop a solid quarterback next year and win 8-10 games, the '09 team will be top 5 pre-season.

Win a NC at Texas A&M? Are you kidding me. There are too many schools in Texas to count to have to compete for recruits. Texas and OK have the Big 12 on lock. The way you fair weather fans talk about a NC so much you would think we've won several since I've been born. This talk is spurred by all the Pro-Bama media in the state. Tubs is 6-2 against Bama and they're tired of it. Let's just focus on these last two games that are just as big this year as ever.